134 C. W. ODLING^ C.S.I., M.TNST.C.E., ON ORISSA : 



famine a new settlement was not made until 1897, when the 

 rents were raised to 38 lakhs of rupees, of which Government 

 takes 21 -J, leaving 16 1 to the zemindars, who, however, lose under 

 the new arrangement as they had been drawing^ the full rents of 

 lands brought under cultivation since 1837. The average rent 

 paid by the cultivator for the land in 1897 was found to be 

 ■.25. del. an acre. 



All things considered, it is probable that the Orissa cultivator 

 is in a better position than an English farm labourer. His 

 income is small, but his wants are few, and he usually raises 

 •all the food required for himself and his family. His house is 

 his own. He cannot be turned out of his holding so long as a 

 •very moderate rent is paid, and that rent can only be raised, at 

 intervals of thirty years, and then by a Government official. As 

 the population increases, and it tends to increase rapidly, there 

 will be more pressure on the land, holdings will be divided and 

 subdivided, and the standard of comfort will tend to decrease. 

 There is, except near the sea coast, but little unoccupied land 

 in British territory, but there are large tracts in the native 

 states, and it is to be hoped that under the pressure mentioned 

 there will be mioration thither. 



There is the spectre of famine, and very frightful that spectre 

 liecomes, when it actually arrives. My first introduction to 

 Orissa was in the beginning of the famine of 1866, in which 

 iiiore than half a million of people perished ; the mortality was 

 frightful, the roads leading to Cuttack were strewn with the 

 ■ilead and the dying. There is one consolation, which is that so 

 far as human foresight can judge, it is not possible for such a 

 •spectacle to recur. The mortality was due to two causes, 

 (firstly, the want of communications, and secondly, to the fact 

 that since the commencement of British rule in Orissa, there 

 liad been, no calamity of the kind. There was a tendency 

 ^imongst the Calcutta officials to rely on the laws of supply and 

 •demand, the Government had not recognised its responsibility 

 for providing food for the starving i)eople, or how to arrange for 

 the support of the hundreds of thousands for whom it was 

 imperative to find food at or near their homes. There are no 

 poor laws in India and, except in cases of famine, they are not 

 required. But the responsibility of Government, in case of 

 famine has, since 1866, been fully recognised, and ample 

 ■experience in the management of famines has been acquired 

 •and ])ut into practice in other parts of India ; happily in Orissa, 

 for the last forty years, there has never been more than local 

 scarcity. 



